At one time, guard tour systems consisted of mechanical clocks which used paper tape recording systems to time-stamp events of a tour. Another type of prior art guard tour system includes a bar code reader that is formed into a portable, hand-held device. Attached to each checkpoint are bar code labels. The guard or night watchman then walks around to each checkpoint and scans in the associated bar code label with the hand-held device. After completing the tour the guard then transmits the recorded list of bar code readings and time-stamps to a report-generating computer.
Prior art guard tour systems also required guards to follow strict route requirements during the tours. Usually, once the tour began, the guard had to progress through the tour according to a predefined sequence of checkpoints so that the progress and location of the guard was always known. However, this arrangement can be counterproductive. Observers may be able to ascertain the guard's predetermined tour sequence and plan a break in based on that sequence. These systems also require that the guard proceed to each checkpoint in a predetermined amount of time. This does not allow the guard any flexibility to investigate unusual occurrences he encounters during the tour, because he must proceed to the next checkpoint.
Other prior art guard tour systems required that the guard type in any incidents encountered during the tour into a log maintained by the tour monitor so that these incidents will be included in the tour report. This is time consuming, and because it is done at the end of the tour, accuracy is sacrificed.
Further, prior art guard tour systems required that a user enter a computer program or type in instructions to begin downloading information from the reader. This is often a time consuming process, requiring some computer skills.
The present invention is directed to an improved guard tour system, which includes advanced electronic hardware and software with improved data acquisition and reporting capabilities. The present invention improves efficiency and insures that guard tours are completed accurately and that any security problems are detected quickly.
Therefore, in light of the foregoing deficiencies in the prior art, the applicant's invention is herein presented.